The Lovereading4Kids comment

How can three friends look out for each other? Daisy and Phoebe are worried about their friend Erika. She’s good at everything and very popular but someone seems to be giving her a hard time. Each of the three girls tells their part in unravelling the story in an easy to read and chatty style.

Synopsis

A Friend in Need by Julia Jarman

Erika is good at sport, actually she's good at everything, and she has loads of friends. But her two best friends Daisy and Phoebe are worried about her - she seems really quiet and is avoiding them. If it wasn't Erika they'd be worried she was being bullied, but surely no one would bully the most popular girl in school?

Illustrated in black and white throughout by Kate Pankhurst. Perfect for younger Jacqueline Wilson fans.

Reviews

There are plenty of issues worth discussing . . . Well worth getting for the classroom library * Books for Keeps * Interesting and entertaining... Like its predecessor, it offers a realistic take on the complexities of girls

* The School Librarian *

About the Author

Julia Jarman has written over 60 books for children. Born in 1946, Julia was brought up near Peterborough, and attended local schools. Her family had a small plot of land on which they kept chickens and pigs. They also had a dog, two cats, a succession of rabbits, and for a short time, a grass snake! Her pets have featured in her stories at some point. This little plot was important to Julia as she could escape there and read or just do nothing - essentials for a good imagination.

As a child she became a book worm and visited her local library on an almost daily basis. She started at one end of a shelf and read all the books until she reached the other end. Julia decided when she was 8 years old to become a children's writer, having read Little Women and the sequel Good Wives. The character in these books, Jo March, became a writer when she grew up and Julia wanted to be like her.

To begin with, Julia wrote to magazines, comics and newspapers and managed, at the age of 8, to have some work published.

On leaving school, Julia went to university to study English and Drama. She became a teacher to earn a living while developing her writing. During this stage she got married and had three children. Reading to her own children made her realise the importance of children's stories and underlined her determination to write.

Encouraged by her children, Julia started writing about people that were life like and exciting, and included some scary situations. Her philosophy is to take real life and add some 'what ifs' - and then anything can happen.

Julia still likes to read a lot but has to also make time for writing, which takes up about four days a week. She has little time for many hobbies as she also likes to visit schools one day a week to get feedback from children.

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Publisher Profile

Andersen Press Ltd is an imprint of Andersen Press

Andersen Press is one of the leading independent children’s publishers, publishing some of the biggest names in the world of children's books including the much-loved picture book characters the Little Princess and Elmer the patchwork elephant. Andersen Press is the home of many award-winning authors and illustrators including Melvin Burgess, Rebecca Stead, Satoshi Kitamura, Tony Ross, David McKee, Chris Judge and Jeanne Willis. Founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge it won the Bologna Best Children’s Publisher prize in the European Category in 2016, the company’s 40th anniversary year.